About December 31
December 31, 2024 is the 366th day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. The day of the week is Tuesday.
You can browse the full year calendar in case you need it.
What no one tells you about your first name’s personality. Are there magical powers in your given name? Check out Sarah’s personality today! (Sponsored links)
Capricorn is the sun sign of a person born on this day. Turquoise is the modern birthstone for this month. Onyx is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.
According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 29 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.
December 31: More About This Day
It is widely known as New Year’s Eve since the following day is New Year’s Day. It is the last day of the year.
What Happened On December 31
- 535 –Byzantine General Belisarius completes the conquest of Sicily, defeating the Ostrogothic garrison of Syracuse, and ending his consulship for the year.
- 1229 –James I of Aragon the Conqueror enters Medina Mayurqa (now known as Palma, Spain) thus consummating the Christian reconquest of the island of Majorca.
- 1600 –The British East India Company is chartered.
- 1660 –James II of England is named Duke of Normandy by Louis XIV of France.
- 1695 –A window tax is imposed in England, causing many householders to brick up windows to avoid the tax.
- 1759 –Arthur Guinness signs a 9,000 year lease at £45 per annum and starts brewing Guinness.
- 1879 –Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time, in Menlo Park, New Jersey.
- 1906 –Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar signs the Persian Constitution of 1906.
- 1909 –Manhattan Bridge opens.
- 1923 –The chimes of Big Ben are broadcast on radio for the first time by the BBC.
- 1944 –World War II: Hungary declares war on Nazi Germany.
- 1946 –President Harry S. Truman officially proclaims the end of hostilities in World War II.
- 1951 –The Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than US$13.3 billion in foreign aid to rebuild Europe.
- 1955 –The General Motors Corporation becomes the first U.S. corporation to make over US$1 billion in a year.
- 1981 –A coup d'état in Ghana removes President Hilla Limann’s PNP government and replaces it with the Provisional National Defence Council led by Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings.
- 1983 –In Nigeria a coup d'état led by Major General Muhammadu Buhari ends the Nigerian Second Republic.
- 1986 –A fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, kills 97 and injures 140.
- 1994 –The first Chechen war: Russian army began a New Year’s storm of Grozny
- 1999 –Boris Yeltsin, the first president of Russia, resigns as President of Russia, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting President.
- 1999 –Five hijackers, who had been holding 155 hostages on an Indian Airlines plane, leave the plane with two Islamic clerics that they had demanded be freed.
Do you drink coffee? Did you know that coffee and word games are an excellent combination to sharpen your vocabulary? Try this! Within 30 seconds, how many words can you think of from these letters KHAAOJICS? Check your answers here: Unscramble words KHAAOJICS. (Sponsored by WordFinder.Cafe)
Share or Link to This Page: